Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Earthquake Rocks Haiti (Updated)

Some quick info about the devastating earthquake which took place today in Haiti. Keeping in touch with family online on Facebook--all in the US have not been able to reach family in Haiti. The UN building has reportedly been heavily damaged. UN has not accounted for many employees. No word on casualty numbers. CNN predicting up to 100,000 of the population of Port-au-Prince may perish. Population of PAP estimated at 2,000,000. A radio station covering the situation live is reporting that the whole neighborhood of Carrefour, Haiti is gone.

Aftershocks reverberating, People can only see dust, US sending in military troops, Tsumani warming is no longer in effect.

Listen Live via Radio (Creole) here
Photos via Facebook here:
Photos from HAITI EARTHQUAKE!

EARTHQUAKE HAITI Photos
Live CNN coverage of earthquake in Haiti: Watch CNN Live




Translation: The woman is speaking French, saying: There was an earthquake, she's not injured, but a few things in her house have been broken... she's pointing to a fire (we can only see the smoke) and she repeats she is OK and the other girl is too... in English she says, "The world is coming to an end."
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Watch live streaming video from haiti_pal at livestream.com

General Hospital in Port-au-Prince is down

The Presidential Palace has collapsed - palè a kraze!

President Renee Preval and his wife escaped injury.

No one knows how many dead or injured.

Report from an HLLN member who was on the phone to Haiti, told us that: "The road to Delmas 60 has collapsed down the mountain burying many homes. The people are screaming for help. Down the hill closer to Teleco there are a lot of UN troops on the street but that many of the roads are blocked with debries from collapsed homes..."

The aftershocks are still revebarating (24 so far according to US Geological Survey)

People can only see dust -pousyè - dust, everywhere.

Obama is sending in military/rescue troops and humanitarian aid.

Phone lines that are working are: Haiti-tel and Voila.

Digicel (cell) tower is down.

No landlines are working. no radio broadcast, no TV broadcast, no electricity...

Tsunami warning still in effect (canceled per CNN)

All windows are shattered in houses in la plaine

Houses are falling down everywhere.

All the poor living on the mountains, in houses build on the mountains, feared suffered heavy, heavy casualty. Our report is that these houses on the mountains tumbled down, one on top another.
A terrible situation! Devastating. There's NEVER been an earthquake of this magnitude in Haiti. Major aftershocks happening...

Nothing works, no one to assist anyone.

No one knows where necessary personnel are.

As of this writing, State Department has little contact with US Embassy compound

There are about 1000 US personnel asigned to the US compound (our info at the time the US Embassy, the fifth largest US Embassy in the WORLD, was opened 2-years ago in Haiti).

There are 9000 UN troops in Haiti.

The quake was quickly followed by two nearby, strong aftershocks of initial magnitude of 5.9 and 5.5.

The aftershocks were major earthquakes in and of themselves.

Someone in Haiti said to me "The area of Karrefour is destroyed...the population of Port au Prince has just been REDUCED, don't know by about how much. Everyone, rich and poor, build on the mountains, all the mountains are down! This is going back to the ground zero."
This is catastrophic. Changes everything.
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Some info sourced from: Ezili Danto of HLLN
She also has info on her OpenSalon blog.

Haiti national palace
The Haiti -National Presidential Palace as of 1.11.2010

Haiti national palace - damaged
The Haitian National Palace Now.


Haiti is dark, phones are out, buildings are falling...Let's all pray for Haiti!




Getting some good info from Earthquake Haiti Facebook Group.

Grif has kindly posted links on how you can help on his post: "Please consider texting $10.00 in disaster aid to Haiti."

UPDATE 01.13.10:

100 UN Troops trapped in the rubble of the UN building.

Haiti's Senate is trapped in the Presidential National Palace.

The UN mission chief, Hedi Annabi, is missing. Feared dead

Areas hardest hit are within proximity of the National Palace. Carrefour and Delmas. Leogane: reports from the radio station say that all the houses have been destroyed.

First hand accounts and info on effected areas and family seeking loved ones are posted on the discussion board of EARTHQUAKE HAITI.

Anyone seeking live help with finding loved ones can register. read, post or talk to the Radio station livestreaming on the internet: HaitiPal. Their phone numbers in Haiti are: country code 011 - 561-420-6409 and 509-288-4868


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10 comments:

thezenhaitian said...

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Laura said...

thoughts and prayers are with Haiti from Boston.

Anonymous said...

Is La Plaine okayy!! What are the damages to La Plaine

thezenhaitian said...

Doesn't sound too bad: "all windows are shattered." The most affected areas are the ones closest to the National Palace. Delmas, Carrefour and PAP-- try posting at:
http://www.livestream.com/haiti_pal

and ask the people at the radio station.

Here is their numbers:
011 - 561-420-6409 and 509-288-4868

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your loved ones. Best of luck finding out the info you need.

sahabat Indonesia said...

I'm sorry to hear Haiti strucked by earthquake measuring 7.3 Richter Scale. This tragedi open my memory about tragedi which strucked Padang City, at West Sumatera, Indonesia, 2 moths ago. Yeah, exactly, on November 30th, 2010 Padang stucked by earthquake measuring 7.9 Richter Scale. I confident Haiti able to rise up even better than before. Get your dream! and remember Haiti: "You are not alone"

thezenhaitian said...

Thank you Sahabat from Indonesia, you're very kind. Haiti will survive this tragedy.

Anonymous said...

Have anyone heard anything about martissant 1 in haiti near PAP.

Anonymous said...

Im Clemson from Philippines. I will pray for the souls and the familes who lost their loved ones.

God will make a way for Haiti.

Anonymous said...

If anyone is in or knows anyone in Jacmel, I am looking for Jacque Cote!

apple said...

This is one of the worst calamity happened in our history. I am hoping that this kind of tragedy will not happen anymore. :(

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